Those that remain
by Spyro58
Summary: All is peaceful ; well at least, that's what you would hope for after a massive fight against your arch-nemesis. However, war never ends forever. When a village is surprised attacked, a new war is waged between the dragons and the apes. A war on a far larger scale than the previous one; and the survivors will be left to clean it all up...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi I will not bother making too many more authors notes. I know it has been two years but eh I miss the nostalgia ;_; I hope you enjoy reading and I hope some of you may still rate it :)**

Spyro hauled himself upwards. He opened his eyes slowly; his vision shaking like the waves of the ocean. His whole body ached, from the very edge of his tail to the pointed end of his horns. He looked over himself; his whole body was covered in little scratches. Bruises were abundant, and more serious wounds ripped only through his torso. Spyro looked down slowly. Bodies littered the thin, bloody soil. The grass had been scorched and trampled; just like those fighting on itself. So many bodies, covering the vast plains for miles. He tried not to remember the smiling faces of those on the floor, nor their screams before they had fallen.

Spyro stood in a combat stance, tears dripping down the side of his face; from the pain or the emotions, he did not know. He did not care which. All that matters now, is if he can emerge victorious…

 **Days earlier…**

Spyro woke up slowly. He looked around his small, warm beige-coloured room. His bed was the heart of his room; with a balcony to the left and the two doors to the right; one leading to a tiled bathroom, and the other to the main hallway of his dormitory.

"Get up breakfast was served five minutes ago!" Said a frustrated, mildly high pitched voice.

"Coming" Replied Spyro. He stared out the window for just a few seconds and gazed down upon the beautiful city; dragons roamed around the city, moving into and out of buildings, playing on the grass and chowing down on their breakfast. Everyone was happy and peaceful, living their daily lives; the colours of the dragons were vibrant, and the orange glow of the sun gleamed off of the very surface of the city, leaving beautiful shadows all over the square spyro looked upon. He smiled gently, feeling the life of the city.

"Spyro, hurry up! How damn long does it take for you to open a door?!" Said the same voice, along with violent bashes coming from the door.

"I'm coming calm down!" Replied Spyro again. He opened the door, and saw a light yellow dragon with an orange underbelly and darker yellow stripes shaped like lightning across his body. The inside of his wings were a vibrant orange, with the wing membrane being an even brighter yellow. His eyes were a beautiful shade of orange, mixed with a slight tinge of red.

"Hey Stripes, sorry about sleeping this late"

Stripes store into Spyro's eyes. "You sure you are alright? Are you getting enough sleep?" Replied stripes. Spyro was a little shocked, expecting him to be more annoyed.

"I think so - how does 8 hours sound?"

"So there really was a reason for you to sleep in then huh…" Stripes rushed down the corridor. "Comon, we've gotta hurry!"

Spyro followed after stripes, barely being able to keep up with him. Dragons jumped out the way as stripes came barreling towards them down the corridor, like an arrow released from a pulled back bow.

Eventually (after leaving a few annoyed dragons behind) Stripes ground to a halt. Spyro almost smashed straight into the back of him, but managed to ground to a perfect stop just millimeters before. They were in the canteen, which was really just a hall for eating in. It had a solid wooden floor, with high stone walls that eventually joined together at the ceiling, creating a very cosy atmosphere. Tables and seats were lined up in rows, and a counter was at the other end, filled with great-smelling-not-so-tasting food.

"There you are" Called a high pitched female voice. "Where were you? It's not like stripes to miss a meal"

"It's all this guy's fault" Stripes said quickly. "Anyway, would love to talk but i'm missing out on a very important meal so i'll be back in a minute" He dashed away quickly, like his life depended on it.

"Hey Ava, sorry about sleeping in, I guess I forgot what time it was"

"It's ok, but please, try to be on time tomorrow" Ava said, clearly concerned about him. She has a light blue underbelly, with a dark blue hide. She had a couple of light blue spots dotted over her. Her wings were a deep purple, with bright light blue membranes. She looked pretty attractive overall.

"I will" Spyro looked around. "Have you seen Cynder anywhere?"

"No, I think she's in the training room" Replied Ava. "I wish she would talk to us though. She barely ever eats with us these days"

"Thanks, I'll go talk to her. Maybe she just doesn't feel hungry" Said Spyro.

"What about your food though?" Said Stripes, startling Spyro briefly. Spyro, however, had become used to this slowly over time, since it became one of Stripes' usual tricks.

"Stripes, you have to stop doing that… but anyway I'm not too hungry"

"Alright, well Seeya later" Said Stripes, as he stuffed his mouth with food. He sat down next to Ava and continued to devour the large plate of food he had brought with him.

Spyro walked along the corridor quitely. Although Spyro had settled into his new home quite well, Cynder had not been so lucky. The dragon's still had not accepted her, even though she was no different to them. They still feel somewhat wary of her, and some even fear her, even though without her Spyro never would have won the final battle against Malefor. But they hear what they want to hear, hence ignoring that fact.

Spyro opened the training room's door quietly. Ava was correct, Cynder was there. However, she was not alone.

"How did her fighting skills beat Malefor? I mean look at this" Scoffed an older, more brutish dragon. He had a light beige underbelly, with a dark brown body. He had stubby little dark brown wings, with dark green membranes. Although his wings were small, the strength of them were amazing, since he was able to fly for over 3 hours straight without a rest, even a feat that Spyro had struggled to do.

"Hi Cynder" Called Spyro. He ignored the brutish dragon, and his friends.

"Look! Her boyfriend has come to save her" The brutish dragon's friends laughed snobbishly, and walked past spyro, barging into him as they left. Cynder store solemnly towards the test dummy she had been training on seconds before.

"Hi Spyro" Said Cynder quietly. "You don't need to be here, you know"

"Well I want to train too" Said Spyro. He flew over to the training dummy next to Cynder.

Both of the dragons fought in silence for a few minutes, with only the sound of their yells as their hits collided with the dummies echoing throughout the massive room. The room had 20 dummies in it, each one approximately 5 metres apart from each other/

"So do you want to talk about it?" Said Spyro, as he slashed the dummy in front of him.

Cynder let loose a volley of poison towards the dummy (which was surprisingly elementally resistant) "There is nothing to talk about" She said stubbornly. Suddenly, her stomach made a small earthquake inside of herself, which was just loud enough for Spyro to pick up on.

"Shall we go have something to eat?" Asked Spyro casually.

"Sure, I am quite hungry" She clutches her stomach gently. She had not eaten anything the night before either; since she had been too busy practising.

Spyro walked alongside Cynder. "So Cynder, Ava and Stripes were worried about you"

"Well I did say hello to them" Replied Cynder. "But if I really worried them, then sure I'll stay around for a bit, I did miss you" She blushed slightly, but it was hardly noticeable.

"Thanks that would be great" Replied Spyro.

They eventually made it to the canteen, however it was too late. The door was locked and no one was inside.

"Damn" Cursed Spyro. Cynder's stomach grumbled again, as if to show its discontent at this fate.

"Lets just go to class Spyro" Said Cynder, slightly frustrated at the fact that it closed.

"Wait we still have fifteen minutes before class, we can buy some food from the outside"

"I don't think we have enough time" Said Cynder. She blushed slightly again. "Thanks for the thought though"

Spyro looked at Cynder, then out the wide open double front doors of the massive school.

"Wait here a minute" Said Spyro quickly. He sprinted away, not giving Cynder even a second to stop him. He soared through the middle of the courtyard, which was filled with colourful flours, ranging from red to bright yellow. The layout of the courtyard was very orderly, with a big circular flower bed in the middle, with red flowers in the middle slowly fading into yellow flowers on the outside. The rest of the courtyard was made up of either bright green grass with the occasional tree, or small wooden benches. He flew straight past all this, completely ignoring the scenery below him, and rushed towards the nearest store.

He returned to Cynder only 5 minutes later, with his arms overloaded with food.

"Spyro" Cynder giggled slightly. "Thanks, but you didn't have to"

"It's alright I was hungry too" Spyro took a massive bite just as he said that, the last few words he said barely being heard over his load crunching. Cynder just laughed, and the two of them walked down the wooden corridors towards the classroom…

 **At an Unknown location, at the same time…**

The huge commander stared down towards his comrades, as they marched slowly through the forest. They were all thirsty for blood, thirsty for fighting. They missed the sounds of their fallen enemies, and decided that today was the time that they would hear them, even if they were not meant to be fighting on the front lines…

They stopped just at the very edge of the forest, hiding behind large trees; a dragon village was visible. It was quite a large village, with maybe at least one hundred or so dragons there, mainly females and children. The men were mainly out gathering food or working; this was the perfect opportunity.

"CHARGE!" Cried the ape commander, and all of a sudden an entire 2000-strong army of apes charge out from their forest hiding spots. The few dragons on guard duty were instantly annihilated from the first painful volley of arrows, whilst the pike-wielding apes charged forth.

The ape archers reloaded their arrows almost instantly, this time with a burning red fire arrow. The fire arrows burned through the sky like little missiles of death raining onto the village below. Dragons were set on fire; so we're buildings. It was a massacre.

Screaming could be heard for miles from the village, as the buildings begun to burn to the ground. Many dragon bodies littered the soil, with limited ape casualties. Only a few managed to escape, with most of them dying or fighting futily. The apes roared in triumph, as they thrust their spears into the startled defenders.

"OVER HERE WERE BEING FLANKED!" Called the watch duty commander. He had only 20 dragon's left alive. He was trying frantically to order his dragons whilst fighting, but that was proving to be a difficult task.

"WE NEED TO BUY AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE FOR THE ESCAPE!" He thrusted himself through the air, ripping through two apes on the way with his massive claws. He breathed a massive, scorching fire cloud to the others, forcing them to move back.

Things were going well, although there had been many, many loses. The women which were not able to fight and the children were escaping quickly, with most of them gone. He felt relieved; he saw his mate flying away with their child.

Things were definitely going well, until a massive volley of arrows came soaring through the are.

"BRACE YOURSELVES! FIND COVER!" Ordered the commander. He ducked behind the cover of a nearby rock, expecting most of the arrows to come his way. However, the arrows were on a trajectory far higher than towards them; they were aimed towards the fleeing dragons.

"NOO!" The commander watched painfully as his mate was hit with 6 of those arrows; she fell out of the sky like a stone plummeting to earth. She screamed in pain, and the child in her arms cried out for her

"DAMNIT! RETREAT" He ordered his remaining forces; the village was lost. Their homes that they had worked so hard to build had all been destroyed, but that was far less important than their lives.

He sprinted towards his mate. She lied almost motionless on the floor. "KATE! KATE!" Screamed the commander. He picked her up, the child as well, and flew away. Kate kissed him gently on the chest.

"everything will be ok... " She said, as her eyes slowly closed for the last time. Tears streamed down the child and the commander's cheeks. The commander looked towards the sky and screamed in anguish. Too many had died in that small village, families had been broken, lives destroyed. He blamed himself for the failure, even though he knew deep inside, that he wasn't to blame; but then again, who would he blame, if not himself.

 **Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed it, though i will be borrowing ideas from my previous books to hopefully make this one better. Please leave an honest review and please leave a score. Here are the scores to leave:**

 **1 : Very bad**

 **2 : Bad**

 **3 : Ok**

 **4 : Good**

 **5 : Very Good**

 **6 : (special) Exceedingly good**

 **Thanks for reading everyone**

 **Spyro58**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone, thanks for reviewing/viewing. I really appreciate it. Please, if you do enjoy the series, leave a review. If you do not like a part/chapter, please leave a review on how it could be made better, because my writing can only really improve from constructive criticism feedback. Thanks for reading so far and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoy writing it!**

The dragon commander held his child close to his chest. He was wet from tears and sweat, unsure of which soaked him more. His child cried softly, still shattered from his mother's death. He was too young to understand most things, but even a child understands when their mother no longer calls out for them. The commander laid his child softly on the ground, a few metres away from where his mate lay. He was panted restlessly, as sweat and tears dripped from the sides of his face. He had flown for what seemed like hours, in the same direction. Other broken families had flown off in different directions, potentially trying to find relatives or friends to live with. Those that had none other relatives than the ones from the village, flew towards Warfang; their hope lying in the opportunity of becoming refugees.

The commander looked around. The sun was gently falling from the sky; painting the green trees around him a dark blood red. He slashed his claws through the bottom of some nearby trees, clearing an area for him and his son to sleep in. He was too tired to fly for any longer.

"Dad..." whispered the child, his voice cracking from mourning. "Where are... we going..?"

"Too see your uncle" Replied the commander quietly. "In Warfang"

"Warfang..." said the child equally as quiet. He laid down slowly on his side, wrapping his entire body into a circular shape, as his dad wrapped his body around the back of him comfortingly

"Don't worry, son..." Whispered the commander, his voice breaking slowly. "Your mother loved us both very much. She is... in a better place now..." A final tear dripped down from the broken commander, as he drifted into a shallow sleep.

 **A day later, with Spyro...**

Spyro rushed down the corridor, having slept in again. He tripped over a few books on the floor, but quickly picked himself up and continued running.

Spyro turned swiftly around the corner, colliding with the wall as he kept on running. He moaned slightly in pain but kept running, eventually coming up to a second bend, however he had gained speed from his previous running, now rushing towards the corner at almost Stripes' levels of speed.

A bright yellow dragoness with a cyan underbelly also rushed around the corner at exactly the same time, colliding with Spyro directly. "Ahh!" yelled both dragons as Spyro was flown onto his back. The dragoness had landed directly on top of him, having had Spyro cushion her blow accidently.

The dragoness opened her eyes slowly. She looked down upon Spyro, with her lips just centimetres away from Spyro's. She blushed bright red and pulled herself up from him.

"Im so sorry..." She said apologetically. She took a second look at who she had crashed into. "Wait.. are you... Spyro?" She said excitedly.

"Yeah, nice to meet you" Replied Spyro. He pulled himself up from his fall, clutching his back slightly. "It was really my fault" The dragoness blushed even more.

"No, it was my fault..." She said, still blushing red with embarrassment. "You really are as handsome as they say you are" She whispered to herself.

"Well anyway I've got to g-"

"Rika" interrupted the dragoness quickly. "That's my name"

Spyro took a proper look at her. Her wings were cyan and membranes light yellow. She did not have any markings. "You have a great name, Rika. It's beautiful" Spyro said quickly. Rika blushed even more. "I've got to go Rika, but I'll see you around sometime" Spyro rushed off, leaving the dragoness flustered. No one had ever told her that her name was beautiful. Ever since she came to the city, she has had nothing but resentment. But Spyro... he was different...

Spyro rushed into the class, quickly sitting down behind his other pupils.

"Spyro" Said Terrador slowly, anger gently drifting into his voice as he spoke. "Why are you late this time?" Terrador had become Spyro's training dragon after the fire guardian had fallen... Spyro had never accepted Terrador as much as Ignitus, however over time he learnt to accept that he will never come back. Terrador was still a guardian after all; their type of training was no match for any other.

"Sorry sir" Spyro replied, as others moved their eyes in curiosity towards him. "I slept in again"

"This wasn't your first time" Terrador looked sternly towards him. "Be on time tomorrow or y-" His sentence was cut off as a dragoness rushed in, with similar speed as Spyro's.

"It was my fault, sir" Replied a familiar voice which Spyro had heard before. He turned around. She was exactly who his suspicions believed her to be.

"Rika, hm. Well why was it your fault then?" Questioned Terrador.

"I crashed into him when he was running down the corridor" Rika looked towards Spyro. "I was looking for my class at the time, but I should have asked him" She blushed slightly, remembering the ordeal that had occurred just minutes ago.

"Well sit down Rika. Now, without further interruptions, I shall begin the lesson" Rika walked over to where Spyro was sitting. He was sitting next to Cynder and Stripes; Asuna was unfortunately not in their class. She sat down directly in between Cynder and Spyro. Cynder growled slightly, becoming wary of her sitting position being taken over. Rika completely ignored her, instead listened to what Terrador was explaining. She smiled smugly ever so slightly, pissing Cynder off even more.

Spyro was completely oblivious to their cold war, instead paying his entire attention to Terrador; after all, if he did not learn enough, Terrador would surely catch onto him, like a hawk upon a rabbit, since he had become a target after all his lateness. Stripes secretly watched the two dragoness's tensions raise over the period of class, with a small smile creeping over his face. "You're a lucky guy, Spyro" He whispered to himself.

 **At break time, a few hours after class had begun.**

Spyro walked into the hall, with Stripes. As usual, Stripes was ranting on about how cool this was, or how tasty that was; however, Spyro barely ever paid attention. He did enjoy the company, though.

"Damn, how great was that! Did you already know how to do that counter, Spyro?" Asked Stripes excitedly. He was like a child flying for the first time; his enthusiasm ever so dominant.

"Yeah, well I sort of had to learn it" Spyro replied. "Ignitus... taught me how to.." Spyro said the second section slightly slower, sadness creeping into his voice. He looked towards the floor, remembering the last time he saw Ignitus. Flames engulfed the fire guardian; pain enveloping his body. No matter how hard Spyro tried to forget, how hard he tried to push away, the painful memory; it just kept coming back. It hurt less now, though it still felt like a stab in the chest; although not quite like the deep slash he felt only months before.

Stripes caught onto his pain, and quickly changed the subject. "I saw Rika sitting next to you earlier. So you gunna tell me about it?" Asked Stripes eagerly.

"What do you mean?" Said Spyro, completely innocently.

"Well, something happened. She knows you somehow" Interrogated Stripes; like he already knew what happened.

"Well I did crash into her, but nothing much else" Said Spyro, slightly confused.

Cynder walked through into the hall, catching onto the conversation Spyro and Stripes were having.

"Yeah'" She looked straight at Spyro, slightly frustrated that her seating position had been invaded by someone else. "What did happen with her? And who is she?"

Spyro sweated slightly under the pressure. After all, what was there to tell? Had he not told them everything? Did he miss something?

Just when he was about to say something, Rika walked in, saving him. "Who am I? Well I'm Rika" Replied Rika, also overhearing their conversation.

Cynder narrowed her eyes as she looked towards her. "Where do you come from, Rika?" Questioned Cynder, with an intimidating tone. Rika store back just as solemnly. Spyro and Stripes could feel the tension between them rise, to almost unstable levels.

"Im from Raulston" Spyro, Stripes and Cynder's Eyes suddenly widened a massive amount. "Im a refugee" Spyro, Cynder and Stripes looked at each other.

"Oh, I'm sorry" Replied Cynder, her anger completely replaced with sorrow.

"It's ok" Replied Rika. She could tell they all felt sorry for her. A tear formed in her eyes. She knew this would happen; she knew she couldn't be treated the same as anyone else. She had to be the different one, the one which everyone either feared, felt sorry for, or both. She had never felt more isolated in her entire life, even though she was among a city full of dragons, like an island surrounded by water. She tried to walk back, but Spyro grabbed her arm softly, forcing her to stay put.

"So what do you think about the City?" Asked Spyro, his remorse replaced with an accepting smile. "The first time I came here, it was a little overwhelming.

Rika's tear all of a sudden stopped. She blushed slightly. She felt a warm feeling inside her chest; a feeling she hadn't felt since after she had left Raulston. She felt like her whole body had just became slightly warmer; her heart began to beat slightly faster. "I love this city" She replied with, Her happiness slightly overwhelming her.

Spyro smiled back. "Im glad you like it. Me and my friends can show you around if you want"

"Yeah we would love to show you around" Stripes grinned smugly. "I know the best restaurants in the city"

"Well I haven't seen too much of the city myself, so I might come along" Said Cynder, looking straight towards Rika. "Even if only to keep an eye on you" She said more quietly, so it was inaudible to the others.

Spyro let go of Rika's arm. She instantly hugged Spyro, wrapping her entire body around him. Stripes looked on, as Cynder's anger slowly creeped onto her again. Spyro looked towards stripes, and then at Cynder, slightly astonished by Rika's sudden act of affection. Hr could sense the anger from Cynder, but was confused as to why.

"Thank you" Rika whispered into Spyro's ear. She was still blushing, as Spyro stood still in confusion, and embarrassment.

"No problem... You're our friend now" He said quickly. "Anyway, Class is just about to begin again" Cynder grabbed Spyro's arm tightly, blushing slightly.

"Lets go Spyro, you of all dragons should know what Terrador will say if you're late" Said Cynder sternly.

 **12 hours earlier, in the dragon court...**

The dragon court had a heavy feeling of justice; It had a solid marble floor, with tall stone walls accompanying it. Small wooden tables lined with stone chairs were spread evenly amongst the room, in a circular fashion; with a single, larger stone chair in the centre of the circle. This was were big decisions were made, and criminals punished. It was an incredibly intimidating place.

Terrador clenched his fist in anger. "Damn it, the Apes found it" Yelled Terrador. Cyril looked towards him.

"Calm yourself, Terrador. Volteer, please explain what happened" Said Cyril, in a concerned tone.

"The ape army, led by a General, rushed a supposedly undefended village" Read Volteer, off of his combat report. He looked solemnly towards the new fire guardian. "Well all know why this happened"

The new fire guardian, that looked slightly similar to Ignitus, looked towards the ground in sorrow. "This is all my fault, I never should have thought they wouldn't find it"

Terrador store towards the fire guardian with pure hatred, his body shaking in anger. He tried to calm himself, and managed to lower his anger slightly, but he couldn't hold the resentment from entering his voice.

"You should never have put that there in the first place" Said Terrador solemnly. "Innocent civilians died because you wanted to try and hide one of your experimental weapons"

The new fire guardian looked towards the other guardians with sorrow. "Im sorry... this was an error of my judgement..." He looked down towards the refugee acceptance letter. He signed it in full. "This is the least I can do for them, to try and fix my mistake"

Volteer looked down, towards the floor. His usual energetic attitude had become lowered from the atmosphere. "Well I too also worked on that weapon. We should never have put one of them there"

"Well" Said Cyril softly. "We need to accept we cannot change the past. We can change the future, though" He looked towards his fellow guardians. "We have a war on our hands. Lets mourn the deaths afterwards, and focus on making the lives lost matter" He walked towards the door, and took the paper from the fire guardian's claws.

The other guardians followed him. He handed the paper to the courier.

"Give this to the guards" Ordered Cyril. The courier flew away quickly, angling towards the north wall.

Cyril store up towards the sky. "If only Ignitus were here right now..."

 **Hey everyone! Thanks for reading. Here is the rating system again;**

 **1 = Terrible**

 **2 = Bad**

 **3 = Ok**

 **4 = Good**

 **5 = Great**

 **6 = Amazing**

 **Thanks for reading again! I really hope you readers enjoy this, since it is my first piece of writing for two years! I may continue the tortured story, since I have already written half of the next chapter 2 years ago, though if I did continue it, I would also continue this one. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

 **Bye for now,**

 **Spyro58**


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